Prospectus

Welcome from the Headteacher

At Grafham, we will continue to meet each new challenge given to us and constantly raise the bar in trying to achieve more. Given the range of initiatives and challenges we currently face, in particular in supporting and promoting young peoples’ health and wellbeing, it is important that we do not lose our focus on raising academic outcomes for every student.

Our work is becoming highly innovative which adds a new creative twist. This ensures we take learning and caring to another level, thus heightening its impact.

What characterises our school and the work we do is our determination to constantly improve teaching, learning and caring, and to ensure that we never miss any opportunity to do so. We should never use a young person’s complex needs as an excuse for underachievement. We must insist on the highest possible of standards from ourselves – our students deserve this from us. Other establishments have not succeeded with our boys because of an inability to secure high standards, and allowing learning barriers to obstruct both social and academic progress.

I have an unrelenting belief that we CAN make a difference to the lives of all young people. However, this requires commitment from across the school, parents, key stakeholders and all partner Local Authorities, to develop a common understanding to enable quality joint planning, a long term commitment to share good practice, a willingness for staff to take calculated risks and a sustained change in practice which leads to empowerment of staff to confidently try new ideas.

If a child is to matter, then the quality of their relationship and all their achievements must matter too. I believe the success to high quality teaching, learning and caring is firmly rooted in a school’s ability to evaluate its own practice effectively. Pointing the finger of blame solves nothing – plan, prepare, innovate and have the attitude of ‘we could try that’ so that the necessary adjustments are made in the young persons’ personalised programme and that the next level of intervention produces a positive impact.

We aim to encourage a love of learning and thereby make every day a rewarding experience for students and staff.

• by providing a happy and safe environment in which our students may work confidently.

• by ensuring outstanding progression through the setting of aspirational but appropriate goals.

• by preparing our young people for future education and a fulfilling life.

Our Mission:

To build better futures for our students and their families by working together to overcome barriers to social, emotional, mental health and academic development. We will deliver an outstanding, inclusive, personalised curriculum through a multi-disciplinary approach in order to equip our students with the skills and experiences needed to embrace life-long learning.